Southwestern University Police Department Blends Campus Protection with Community Building

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Southwestern University Police Department Blends Campus Protection with Community Building

Every year, on the first Tuesday of October, neighborhoods, schools, and community groups across the country gather together to celebrate National Night Out. The annual community-building campaign is designed to promote neighborhood camaraderie and police-community relationships.

On Tuesday, October 7, the Southwestern University Police Department (SUPD) will be hosting a National Night Out event of their own on the Academic Mall. SUPD will be joined by several local law enforcement and public safety agencies. Police officers, firefighters, and other first responders will be serving up hot dogs and cold drinks, and handing out swag to attendees.

“We encourage our community to come meet our department and ask any questions that they might have,” SUPD Chief Joseph Barragan said. “It’s a time to come together and build our community relationships. We want to show what we offer as a police department and remind everyone that we are here to help. It’s all about building relationships.”

Community-building events like National Night Out are a priority for Barragan and SUPD. While the department is tasked with carrying out critical roles on campus, such as enforcing local and state laws, conducting building and residence hall checks, and investigating crimes that occur, cultivating relationships with students, faculty, and staff is vital for SUPD.

“We try our best to get to know the students and to have a relationship with them so that they trust us,” SUPD Sergeant Donald Klepac said. “When something goes awry, whatever that may be, we hope they’re willing to come to us to deal with that situation. We make rounds in all of the buildings and we’re out and about in the community. We do all of these different things to help build the trust between us and the community.”

Klepac’s career in law enforcement has him uniquely positioned for his current role with SUPD. Born and raised in Georgetown, Klepac was first introduced to the law enforcement profession through his father, a local tow truck operator who built strong relationships with the Georgetown Police Department through his work.

After graduating from Texas State University, Klepac joined the Houston Police Department (HPD), where he served for 27 years. Following his retirement from HPD, he was recruited to join the police department at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) in nearby Belton, where both his son and daughter were attending school.

“In city law enforcement, you have the motto ‘protect and serve.’ We use the same motto in college, but it’s even more about protecting and serving in a college environment, because it’s a much closer community,” Klepac said. “When I see other parents, I always try to greet them with a smile and try to showcase us in that setting of protecting and serving their children. That has always been my goal.”

Following seven years with the UMHB PD, Klepac had the opportunity to return home to Georgetown to join SUPD in 2011. He has been serving the Southwestern community for nearly 14 years and is approaching his 50th year in law enforcement.

Klepac is one of six full-time officers employed by SUPD who work to keep campus safe 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. SUPD officers patrol campus on foot and in marked vehicles for maximum visibility. All SUPD officers are state-certified by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement with the same level of certification as city, county, and state law enforcement officers across Texas.

“A lot of the perception is that we’re security and not police officers,” Barragan said. “We are State of Texas certified police officers with the same level of licensing as the City of Georgetown police officers. Our professionalism is there. Our training is there. Our officers have many years of experience.”

“I want people to feel comfortable coming up to me with anything, as opposed to just seeing me as the law enforcement on campus, because I am a person as well.” — SUPD Officer Zachery McPhail

Like Klepac, Barragan is nearing his 50th year in professional law enforcement. Following high school, Barragan enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, where he served for six years. Following his time with the Corps, he returned home to El Paso to join the El Paso Police Department (EPPD). Barragan spent 27 years with the EPPD, spending roughly half of his career working in undercover narcotics operations.

With EPPD, Barragan quickly rose to the rank of Lieutenant. When he was up for a promotion to Commander, a problem arose — he didn’t have a college degree. With a desire to keep learning and keep growing, Barragan enrolled at Mountain State University in West Virginia, earning his degree in organizational leadership with a minor in criminal justice.

Barragan caught a passion for higher education during his undergraduate journey. He returned home to El Paso, where he was hired as a Police Captain at El Paso Community College. At the same time, he felt a desire to keep learning. He enrolled at Sul Ross State, where he earned not one, but three master’s degrees, in public administration, criminal justice, and homeland security.

“We’re here to help. We’re here to serve. And we’re here to get our students to the finish line that is graduation so that they can go on in their careers and life. I want to help them accomplish that goal.” — SUPD Chief Joseph Barragan

When the role of Police Chief opened at Central Texas College (CTC) in Killeen, Barragan jumped at the opportunity. He spent five years at CTC before being named the Southwestern University Police Chief in September 2024.

“As police officers, we’re seen a lot as warriors,” Barragan said. “It’s our job to go and take care of things. However, here, we are guardians. That should be our emphasis. We are the watchers and the ones who take care of the community. Not that we aren’t going to be warriors when we need to be, but it’s a lot about guardianship too.”

In his role as Southwestern’s chief guardian, Barragan has been working hard to ensure that SU’s campus remains one of the safest in the nation. SUPD is currently working to hire three more full-time officers, enhancing the services that the department provides day in and day out. In addition to law enforcement and criminal investigation, SUPD assists students with a wide variety of issues, from flat tires and dead car batteries to safe rides and room lockouts.

“I see service beyond just law enforcement,” Klepac said. “We do things like jumpstart cars and help students learn how to change their tires. That might not be my job, but I’ll be glad to show them how to do it and walk them through that process. My goal is to try and serve our students so that when they leave here, they can be their own, independent adults.”

As one of SUPD’s newest — and youngest — officers, Zachery McPhail takes the Department’s commitment to community service and relationship building to the next level, diligently working to build bonds with students, faculty, and staff.

“At SUPD, we are a Swiss Army Knife and a jack of all trades,” McPhail said. “We get called for a lot of various things, from lockouts to criminal activity to someone just needing to talk. Every day brings something new. There’s routines, of course, but every day is different in terms of what I might encounter or help someone with.”

After graduating from Sam Houston State University with a degree in criminal justice, McPhail spent nearly five years as an officer with the Texas A&M University Police Department. He spent another year with a private security firm that provided protection services for the Tesla Gigafactory in Southeast Austin. Missing law enforcement and the community aspect within higher education, McPhail joined SUPD in March of 2024.

“Visibility is paramount,” McPhail said. “I like to sit over by the fountain at least once a day, just to be seen, to help make people feel comfortable with my presence, and let people know that they can come up to me and talk about various things. I want people to feel comfortable coming up to me with anything, as opposed to just seeing me as the law enforcement on campus, because I am a person as well.”

From Chief Barragan to Officer McPhail, and every member of SUPD in between, the department emphasizes a community policing approach, one where law enforcement collaborates with students, faculty, and staff to proactively prevent crime and other issues. After his time at Texas A&M, McPhail has seen first-hand how this type of approach has led to Southwestern’s safe campus environment.

“At Southwestern, when people see a strange face on campus, a lot of the time, they’ll call us and say ‘Hey, I don’t recognize this person, can you go check them out?’ I don’t mind doing that at all. It’s literally my job to make sure that the people on campus are the people who are supposed to be on campus,” McPhail said. “At Texas A&M, when you have a campus of 80,000 students, faculty, and staff, all you see are unfamiliar faces. It’s a lot easier for a criminal element to hide in plain sight in that environment than it is for them to do that at Southwestern.”

With mutual trust at the heart of their community policing model, SUPD officers place an emphasis on being active members of the community, from joining students at lunch in the Commons to hosting events like National Night Out.

“I want our community to trust us. I want to have a relationship. I want to engage with you,” Barragan said. “We’re here to help. We’re here to serve. And we’re here to get our students to the finish line that is graduation so that they can go on in their careers and life. I want to help them accomplish that goal.”

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